After Effects has a number of features to help you arrange layers precisely.…These include the proportional grid, the regular grid, guides, as well as the Align panel.…Let's look at the proportional grid first.…This divides the frame into a number of divisions, width and height.…In this case, I've used four across and four down.…This is a legacy grid from an earlier version of After Effects.…One of the drawbacks is that you cannot snap to it;…however, you can use it as a simple grid to just help you align things by eye.…

I'll turn off the proportional grid and turn on the regular grid.…Instead of dividing the frame into a number of divisions width and height,…the regular grid is determined by how many pixels are in the grid. In this…case, there's 80 pixels, width and height, and then the grid is divided into four subdivisions.…So depending on how many pixels are in your comp, you may not have a whole number…of grids in the width and height.…Under Preferences > Grids & Guides, you can set the color for the grid, which…

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Author

Updated

11/7/2016

Released

1/25/2011

Trish Meyer leads beginners through a gentle introduction to Adobe After Effects: from creating a new project and importing sources, through arranging and animating layers, applying effects, and creating variations, to rendering the final movie. However, this is no paint-by-numbers exercise. Trish demonstrates how she makes creative decisions and saves time through the use of keyboard shortcuts and smart working practices. Additional movies explain further details about how After Effects works under the hood. Her measured pace helps even those completely new to After Effects understand the program so that they can use it effectively on their own projects. Exercise files for After Effects CS4 through CC are included with the course.

After Effects Apprentice is created by Trish and Chris Meyer and designed to be used on their own and as a companion to their book After Effects Apprentice.

Topics include:

Starting a project from scratch

Building a composition

Arranging and transforming layers interactively and numerically

Animating parameters including motion paths

Applying and re-using effects

Creating variations and rendering the final movie

Importing layered Photoshop files

Understanding alpha channels

Avoiding common mistakes

Skill Level Beginner

2h 20m

Duration

541,449

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Q: This course was updated on 11/09/2012. What changed?

A: We added new movies on using the exercise files that come with this course, and working with the Global Performance Cache in After Effects CS6. We have also added exercise files designed for After Effects CS6.

Q: This course was updated on 11/07/2016. What changed?

A: We updated eight movies to stay up to date with the latest changes in After Effects CC.